Do good by drinking beer: New Mt. Begbie Brewing Co. limited-run beer reuses bread for Food Connect charity drive
Mt. Begbie Brewery creates bread beer by diving into food waste while supporting our local Revelstoke Food Bank.
Contributed by Jenna Fraser, Food Connect Community Food & Outreach Coordinator
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A new Mt. Begbie Brewing Co. collaboration with Food Connect, Revelstoke’s food recovery program run by Community Connections (Revelstoke) Society, has created a new beer made with reused bread. The new brew, called Our Daily Bread, is available for a limited time only. The new brew is raising both awareness of food wastage in Revelstoke and also funds to support the local food bank.
Food Connect is an initiative to redirect food from the landfill to supply safe, fresh food to our community members instead. The food is shared with 18 different programs in Revelstoke including the food bank, school breakfast programs, after school programs, the Revelstoke women’s shelter, the Revelstoke Childcare Society and many other non-profit organizations.
From left: Community Food & Outreach Coordinator Jenna Fraser, Food Security Coordinator Melissa Hemphill, Food Bank Coordinator Patti Larson. Photo: Aaron Orlando/Revelstoke Mountaineer
Food Connect partners with restaurants, food retailers, lodges, local farmers, and gardeners to rescue food from being wasted. Surplus foods, such as those close to their best-before date, mislabeled, or cosmetically unappealing, are assessed by a trained team for quality. Edible foods are directed through our programs and our community agencies, while inedible foods are composted or fed to animals. This program strives to be a zero-waste program by not only keeping food out of the landfill but food packaging as well. By repurposing and recycling food packaging and supplies, the Food Connect team is proud to be reducing our community’s environmental impact while feeding our community.
In 2017, Food Connect received 25,000 pounds of bread products, and in August 2018 alone recovered 2,500 pounds! Bread products are the second most ‘wasted’ food group. The first is fruit and vegetables.
Why is bread wasted? Bakeries and supermarkets want shelves to always be full and dispose of edible bread that is past the sell-by or best-before date — both indicators of quality not safety. Ordering can be challenging due to the unpredictability of consumer purchasing, so unfortunately it’s not as simple as baking less bread; we’ve got to change consumer expectations of having abundant quantities of day-fresh bread. We also waste vast quantities of bread in our homes because we buy too much. Canadians in general are one of the worst food wasters globally, with over 396 kilograms of food per capita is wasted in Canada every year.
This beer-making idea is inspired by a London-based brewery that takes bread destined for the landfill and utilizes it to create Toast Ale, a popular beer with a huge following for those who are waste conscious.
File photo: Mt. Begbie Brewing Co. Sales and Marketing Director Darryn Shewchuck puts a final tap handle on the bar in the new Mt. Begibe Brewing Co. tasting room. The tasting room opened Monday, Dec 18. The brewery won several awards at the 2017 Canadian Brewing Awards including Craft Brewery of the Year. Their new location is on Oak Drive.
Photo by Matthew Timmins
After seeing a documentary featuring Toast Ale, Food Connect Coordinator Jenna Fraser reached out to brewery owner Tracey Larson to see if they was interest in making a beer with local recovered breads. Mount Begbie was up for the challenge and has just released Our Daily Bread today, which can be tasted all week at the Mt. Begbie Brewery’s Tasting Room starting today, Friday, October 12.
In addition to sampling this delicious beer described as having a mild flavor with small touch of sweetness, caramel, and cinnamon, Mount Begbie’s Chef Keith has featured a paired meal for you to try:
File photo: The Mt. Begbie Brewing Co. opened its doors to its new tasting room Monday, Dec 18. The brewery won several awards at the 2017 Canadian Brewing Awards including Craft Brewery of the Year. Their new location is on Oak Drive.
Photo by Matthew Timmins/Revelstoke Mountaineer
Pork cutlet breaded in flakey fresh bread topped with tonkatsu sauce (Japanese BBQ sauce), served with panzanella salad — tomato and bread salad with onion, capers, basil and balsamic dressing. For dessert we have a deconstructed apple pie — using white bread to create crisps, filled with apple pie filling, topped with whipped cream, caramel & served with a side of vanilla gelato.
Join Mt. Begbie from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday to try out Our Daily Bread and feel great not only about drinking locally produced delicious beer, but reducing food waste while providing to the food bank!
Partial proceeds of this beer will be donated to the Revelstoke Food Bank! If you would like to learn more about the Food Connect program or Food Bank program, visit community-connections.ca.
The details on Mount Begbie’s Our Daily Bread:
Style: Bread Beer
ABV: 3.8%
IBU’s:20
Appearance: Hazy, dusty orange
Aroma: sweet malt, slight cinnamon
Flavour: Mild with small touch of sweetness, caramel, cinnamon
Mouth feel: light
Ingredients: Bread from Revelstoke Food Recovery Program, Golden promise pale malt, honey malt and Crystal hops.
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